Finally in Finland!

I guess I should start by saying that I am finally in Finland!

I arrived last night at camp Karkku (language camp.) in Finland at around 3am. Its a funny story really, but before I tell it- I guess I should back track.

In London, I met up with two other Rotary exchange students, to the flight to Helsinki (I flew on all of my other flights with another girl from my District.), and we landed in Helsinki at around 6pm Finland time.

We picked up our bags, and eventually we made our way out of the gates and baggage to see where we were supposed to go. Rotary was right on the other side, and we knew exactly where to go because of all of the multicolored Rotary blazers all standing in a corner. (The color of your Rotary blazer chances based on which country you are from.)

It was super cool though, because the previous Finnish Rebound, Stella met Kyla (the other girl going to Finland in my district) and I at the airport! She totally surprised us, and it was so awesome to see her! Her mom and her little sister were there as well, and it was a lot of fun to talk to them.

Unfortunately, I had my first embarrassing encounter with being foreign- as when we all were washing our hands, I had no idea how to use the paper towel dispensers. It was so weird; I just wasn't sure what to do! It had a strip of actual thick towel connected to the dispenser, and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I cant really describe what it looked like, so hopefully you get an idea. :P

Lets just say that I got a few laughs.

I found out afterward that the last Rotary bus to Karkku wouldn't be until midnight, and so unfortunately, I waited 6 hours in the Helsinki airport with around 30 other exchange students after we had all been awake for over 36 hours...the wait was pretty quiet, and we basically sat around waiting to figure out what was going on.

Stella stayed with us though, which was awesome! She took us through the little grocery store in the airport, and taught us little things in Finnish. I don't remember any of them though. The whole night last night was pretty fuzzy due to all of the travel time, and actually coming to Finland!

After the last few exchange students we were waiting for arrived, we were finally able to get on our way to camp Karkku. We didn't leave the airport until 12:45am, and we did not arrive at the camp until well after 3 in the morning.

I got settled with some of the other girls in my cabin after 4, and after that I wrote a bit in my journal and took a two hour nap, because I wanted to take a shower in the morning before we had to be up for breakfast...

This morning honestly wasn't that great at first. I had been traveling for the past two days, and did not arrive at my destination at camp Karkku until 3am. I ended up feeling super sick because of jetlag and lack of sleep, and so I went outside for a bit to get some fresh air. Unfortunately, I actually ended up getting sick; but it was surprising because afterward I felt great!

Its odd how that happens sometimes...

I still cant believe that im actually in Finland...and that im officially an exchange student! :D